Rates of concussions and minor head injuries in Quebec, 2003 and 2016, in children under 18 years old, and comparisons with Ontario’s rates of mild traumatic brain injuries

Glenn Keays, Debbie Friedman, Isabelle Gagnon

Increases of mild traumatic brain injuries in children have been reported in the USA and Ontario over the past decade. The main objective of this study is to calculate the pediatric rates of mild traumatic brain injury in Quebec, and our second objective is to compare them with those in Ontario. Analysts from the Régie de l'Assurance Maladie du Québec (RAMQ, Quebec Health Insurance Board) compiled tables, by age and sex, of all medical services for mild traumatic brain injuries (concussions and minor head injuries) between 2003 and 2016. Quebec's population rates were calculated and yearly graphs were plotted by age and sex. In Quebec, there were statistically significant increases in rates of mild traumatic brain injury (concussion and minor head injury) in older children: a 2.0-fold increase for those aged 13-17 years, and 1.4-fold increase for those aged 9-12 years. When only considering concussions, girls (13-17 years) had more concussions than boys in 2015 and 2016. The increase in the rates of concussion was significantly higher in Ontario than in Quebec: 4.4- vs. 2.2-fold increase. The recent increase in rates of mild traumatic brain injuries reported in the scientific literature has also been observed in Quebec. The fact that the rate of visits for mild traumatic brain injury, per person, remained the same from 2003 to 2016 suggests that the increase was not the result of parents seeking more medical services, but that more of them consulted when their child injured his/her head.